Defending Freedoms Project

In December 2012, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, in conjunction with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Amnesty International USA, launched the Defending Freedoms Project with the aim of supporting human rights and religious freedom throughout the world with a particular focus on prisoners of conscience.

Specifically, Members of Congress “adopt” prisoners of conscience, standing in solidarity with these brave men and women, while committing to advocate publicly for their release.

Click the interactive map below to view the status of prisoners of conscience highlighted in the Defending Freedoms Project

Spotlight

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2015 Annual Report on April 30, 2015. In the report, USCIRF recommends that the State Department add these eight countries to its list of “countries of particular concern,” defined under law as countries where particularly severe violations of religious freedom are tolerated or perpetrated: Central African Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, and Vietnam.

USCIRF also recommends that the following eight countries be re-designated as “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs: Burma,... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Pakistani Taliban splinter group now reportedly affiliated with ISIL, on May 13 murdered at least 45 Ismaili Muslims in Karachi. The killers boarded a bus transporting Ismailis and shot riders at point blank range. Ismailism comes from a branch of Shi'a Islam, and the Pakistani Taliban and other terrorist groups regularly target Shi'a mosques and processions, as well as Christians and Hindus.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Andijon massacre. On May 13, 2005, as many as 1,000 people were killed when Uzbek soldiers fired indiscriminately and without warning into a crowd of demonstrators in the city of Andijon during a largely peaceful protest in support of 23 local businessmen on trial for alleged ties to Islamic extremism.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today solemnly marks the 100 year anniversary of the tragic killing of over one million Armenians in what is now modern-day Turkey. USCIRF recognizes the profound significance of this day and the deep wounds it continues to evoke for the Armenian people, and the other religious and ethnic communities who were victims of the horrible events of 1915.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 15 is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, an international day commemorating the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany and her allies. It is a solemn day of remembrance, recalling those who suffered and died and those who fought against this evil.